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In the past, New Year was first celebrated in the autumn and then in the spring. It was believed that in the days which constitute the passing from one year to another (the equinoxes, moments which marked the equality of day with the night), the forces of nature could influence the people’s life.
The beginning of the new year was also correlated to the beginning of a new vegetation cycle, thus explaining its celebration on March 1.
The year symbolizes the Sun (the solar cult replaced the old fecundity one, dating from Bronze Age). The year is called Old Year before its death at midnight and New Year after it revives.
Dacians also celebrated the New Year on March 1st. By an administrative law, the Romans moved it to January 1st, because the beginning of the new year marked at them the appointment of the new consuls.
In the Romanian folklore, the passing from one year to another is marked by a 12 days cycle (December 25 – January 6), occasion for the most exuberant folk rituals.
The 12 days symbolize the 12 months of the year. During this period the year grows up, gets older and finally dies. In the folk tradition, the saints also have the same characteristics: at the beginning of the year, the young saints are celebrated; the mature saints follow and then, at the end of the year, people celebrate the old saints. Not only the year grows older, but the saints also.
The 12 years folk cycle is symmetrical and contains two periods: the one between December 25 and the New Year midnight and the one between the New Year midnight and “Boboteaza” (or baptism, on January 6). The first part of the cycle begins on Christmas day and is an evil period. On these days, the time degrades, the night grows, the spirits of the dead go around on earth and the ancestors are invocated.
Remains of ancient orgiastic rituals can be found in some regions. The second period is characterized by divination and casting out of evil spirits rituals. The idea that the spirits of the dead come on earth has its origins in an old belief. According to this, before the beginning of a new year, the natural order of things is annulled and the time and space go back to the initial chaos state. That’s why all the rituals from these 12 days are meant to symbolically restore the world.
The New Year night, which marks the middle, the passing between the two periods, is very important for the Romanian peasants. This night marks the moment in which the Old Year is buried, by ritually putting out a light (a fire) and a New Year is born, symbolized by relighting the fire.
In the night between the years, the peasants don’t sleep. It is believed that the one who sleeps will be lazy the next year. This is the night when purification and casting out evil spirits rituals are done. In order to achieve this, the cattle is passed through fire, wood pitch or bad smelling products are burnt, people jump over the fire, splutter them with water or bath themselves in the river. The door stills, the animals and all family are dabbed with garlic and big noise is done in order to scare the malefic spirits.
Young men, grouped in bands, go with the “Plugusor” or “Buhai” or practice mask plays. Some people believe that the mask plays from the New Year’s Eve symbolize the ancestors’ spirits. The mimic plays, with animal masks or with disguised characters, are the oldest creations of the folk theater.
In the New Year’s night, girls try to dream their husbands, by putting basil under their tongue before going to sleep.
The old men, sitting by the fire, try to see in the onion leaves, in the burnt oak and beech woods and in the weather how the following year will be.
In order to do this, they take 12 onion leaves and fill half of each one with salt. Each leaf is given the name of a month. In the next morning, of St. Vasile’s day, the onion leaves are “read”. If water is in the leaf, the related month will be rainy. If the salt is intact, the month will be dry and if the salt is half dry and half wet, the relative month will be capricious.
Another way of predicting the future is by guessing it in the coals made of a single wood. These are put on the hearth and each one takes the name of a cereal. In the next morning, their state is verified. The cereal corresponding to the coal which became ashes will grow well in the next year. If the coal is intact, that cereal will not grow and if the coal is half made ashes, the bread will be scarce.
The people also predict the future by observing the weather. If there’s a full moon on that night, the following year will be rich.
People believe that treasures can be seen burning on that night, but only those which are seen after midnight can be dug out safely.
The sky opens in that night, but only good people can see this.
The beasts talk one to each other, but people must not listen to them because they would be in danger of death.
Also on this evening, the children, gathered around the trees which didn’t given fruits, symbolically threaten them with cutting if they won’t fruit the next year.
Plugusorul (The Small Plough)
“Plugusorul” is one of the oldest and most beautiful Romanian traditions. It is an old agrarian custom which symbolizes the main occupation of the peasants.
On New Year’s Eve or even on New Year’s day, groups of men, having whips, bells and a plough or a “buhai”, go to the village houses, wishing agricultural wealth to the peasants. This custom is called the “plugusor” (a small plough). The whips are made of hemp and they are thick, in order to be heard as far as possible.
A real plough was used in the past. It was decorated with fir branches, laces and colored paper. The plough was pulled by two or four oxes, also decorated. Recently, a miniature plough has begun to be used, as a symbol.
The “buhai” (an old Romanian word for “ox”) was a wooden jar, which had a very flat goat or sheep skin on its mouth. Through the middle of the skin some horse hairs were passed. They were wetted and pulled with the hand, thus producing a noise resembling to the bellow of an ox. The “plugusor” and “the buhai” are scarcely used together.
When a real plough is used, a list is made in the householder’s courtyard .
The carol singers recite the ploughing carol. They are accompanied by whip snaps, by “buhai” noises and by shouts.
The “plugusor” carol is finished by giving the same gifts as in the case of the carols – nuts, apples, pears, money etc.
The Mask Plays
The most important objects of these plays is the animal head, having a wooden mobile beak and worn by a man accompanied by masked people. The masks are made of wood or goat, sheep or hare skin. The man who wears the animal head hides under a carpet or a table cloth and moves the head by using a rope. He leans on a stick on which the animal head, having two horns decorated with bells and trumpery, is put. The men dance, accompanied by flute or bagpipe. After the New Year has passed, the represented animal was symbolically shot and buried.
The play is called “turca”, “bourita” (ox) or “cerb” (deer). In Walachia, it is called “brezaia” and the represented animal is a goat, a fox, a stork or a crane.
In Moldavia, the goat, the camel or the little deer have smaller and less decorated horns and are accompanied by other animal masks (wolf, fox, bear, horse, rooster, peacock, crane etc.) and by disguised people, accompanied by flute or violin.
The “Vergel”
The “Vergel” has three main forms.
The purpose of the first form, celebrated in the mountain villages from Moldavia and Bucovina, is to predict the luck for the following year, to know better the people and even to become relatives. The participants are the parents who have girls for marrying.
The one who does the “Vergel” gathers all the things needed. A wine jar is always among that. On New Year’s Eve, at 11 o’ clock in the evening, the man announces the gathering. The owner of the house puts a water bowl on the clean table cloth. Those who want to know their future throw a small object in the water (button, ring, key, ear ring, knife etc.). They must recognize this object when it will be taken out. A man, called “vergelator”, hits the bowl with a green branch and says various things. After each wish, a child takes an object out of the water. The predicted things will become reality for the owner of the object. The “vergelator” also names a celebration or a saint to protect that man.
After the wishes have finished, wine is put instead of water. Legends and jokes are told and the people dance until morning.
The second form of the “Vergel”, found all over the country, is meant to find the future husbands. That’s why only girls participate. On New Year’s Eve, they gather in a house. The leader of the celebration, called “ursitoare”, puts various objects on the table – bread, water, pepper, stone, coal, salt, knife, brush, comb, ring – and several bowls, placed up side down. On turns, each girl gets out of the room and the “ursitoare” hides the objects under the bowls. Then the girl enters and chooses a bowl. The bread means that her husband will be as good as fresh bread, healthy and pleasant. The water means that the future husband will be good if the girl will treat him well. The pepper symbolizes an angry, but loving man. If the girl chooses the stone, she will not marry. The coal represents a handsome, but blackish man. The salt means that the future husband will make her life pleasant. The knife symbolizes an impulsive and ironical man. If the girl chooses the brush, she’ll marry an old man from beyond the forest. The comb means a tough, but good man. The ring symbolizes the engagement with a man from her own village.
The purpose of the third form of the “Vergel” is to party. The participants are the lads, but girls accompanied by their parents are also invited. The girls and their mothers bring cakes, pies, nuts, apples, fried chickens. When they enter the house, make a toast. Then the people dance until morning.
Thank you all for your interest in our traditions and customes. My New Year wishes for you http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShowPost.aspx?PostID=245966
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